On Saturday, some 1,700 people turned out for a PEGIDA rally in Cologne, where demonstrators protested Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door migrant policy in the wake of the sexual assaults that occurred on New Year’s Eve in the city center.
Ultimately, riot police were called in to disperse the crowds who held signs calling for the expulsion of “Rapefugees” and the ouster of Merkel.
Subsequently, reports indicated that gangs of “bikers, hooligans, and bouncers” used Facebook to coordinate a migrant “manhunt” that led directly to attacks on a group of Pakistanis in Cologne.
All of this points to the rapid disintegration of German society in the face of a refugee influx that numbers some 3,000 new asylum seekers per day.
On Monday, the backlash against Mid-East refugees continued as thousands gathered in Leipzig to protest for and against the city’s local PEGIDA chapter. Here’s Deutsche Welle:
LEGIDA members took to the streets on Monday to commemorate the first anniversary of the founding of their chapter, as well as to protest against the recent New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne.
"We are the people" "Resistance!" and "Deport them!" chanted the sign and flag-toting LEGIDA crowd. "Refugees not welcome!" read one sign, showing a silhouette of three men armed with knives pursuing a woman, while another declared "Islam = terror".
In another area of the city, riots broke out when around hundreds of soccer "hooligans" started rioting in the district of Connewitz. The neighborhood is considered to be the stronghold of the leftist scene in Leipzig.
Rioters allegedly set of pyrotechnics and threw rocks at display windows.
In a tweet following the riot, police reported: "We have arrested around 250 people from the 'right-wing clientele' after the riots. The situation is under control."
Lutz Bachmann - who nearly Plaxico'd his own cause last year by posting a picture of himself dressed as Hitler on Facebook - reportedly attended the rally. "Well over 2,000 anti-Muslim LEGIDA protestors took to the streets, their ranks swelled by anger over the Cologne attacks," Reuters writes. "They yelled 'Merkel needs to go!' and one carried a sign featuring Merkel wearing a hijab and the words: 'Merkel, take your Muslims with you and get lost'". Here are some images from the chaos:
As #Legida marched, tens of ‘Neo-Nazi football hooligans’ went on a rampage in #Connewitz, #Leipzig. pic.twitter.com/VT0yaVZT4M
— Harry Fear (@harryfear) January 11, 2016
Police say around 30 Neo-Nazis were encircled, identified and arrested. Businesses inc. a Kebab shop were targeted. pic.twitter.com/xngdGpRJyI
— Harry Fear (@harryfear) January 11, 2016
VIDEO: Inside of kebab shop attacked in Neo-Nazi trail of destruction in #Connewitz. Looks like a drone has struck. pic.twitter.com/hoGb8uU7HM
— Harry Fear (@harryfear) January 11, 2016
As Deutsche Welle goes on to note, "anti-LEGIDA protesters formed a 'chain of lights' which stretched for 3.5 kilometers (2.2 miles) around the city center [where] ip to 2,800 people took part in the protest against the xenophobic group."
"We have to take to the streets so long as people continue to make racist arguments," Leipzig's Mayor Burkhard Jung said.
So once again we see that German society is splintered and the nationalist, right-wing PEGIDA movement is gathering strength. As surreal as it may sound, it now appears that there is a very real chance that Berlin's open-door migrant policy may actually be the spark that reignites the Reich in Germany.
That means that for Merkel, there's much more at stake here than the political reputation of Europe's most important politican. The clock is ticking. Dear Iron Chancellor: save your country before 1939 rears its ugly head.